This Day In TMBG History/November

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1

1956 – Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems is published by City Lights Books. The first few lines of the title poem are borrowed, with Ginsberg's consent, for the opening of "I Should Be Allowed To Think" in 1994.

2

1795 – James K. Polk, the 11th President of the United States (1845 - 1849) is born. Often referred to by his nickname, "Napoleon of the Stump", he is known for having accomplished everything he had set out to in only one presidential term, including as "[seizing] the whole Southwest from Mexico" and "[building] an independent treasury".

1987 – Don't Let's Start, the first single from They Might Be Giants' first album, is released. The accompanying music video gets much exposure on MTV, giving the band their first taste of fame.

3

2009 – TMBG's second book, Kids Go!, is released.

4

1986 – They Might Be Giants, the band's self-titled first album, is released. The album contained the band's first singles, "Don't Let's Start" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective", and spawned music videos for those songs and "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head".

2003 – They Might Be Giants perform "Wicked Little Critta", "Another First Kiss" and "Au Contraire" on The Screen Savers. The appearance can be seen in three parts via YouTube here, here, and here.

5

1988 – "Ana Ng", the second single from Lincoln, becomes They Might Be Giants' first charting single, entering the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart at #30. It goes on to peak at #11 in December, and falls off the chart after 9 weeks.

6

2001 – The holiday-themed EP, They Might Be Giants In Holidayland, is released.

8

1889 – Montana becomes the 41st state. John Linnell will write the State Songs single, "Montana", about it.

11

2005 – Venue Songs is released as a CD/DVD set.

12

2021 – TMBG releases their 23rd album, BOOK.

14

2013 – Bloomsbury Publishing releases the book They Might Be Giants' Flood, part of their 33⅓ series.

15

1974 – Earthquake, the first film to use the glorious cinematic technology known as Sensurround, premieres. There it was in the aisle by the exit sign, a woofer covered in wood, to shake the room with 120-decibel "infra bass" sound waves when it should.

2000 – The January issue of TMBG Unlimited is released two months early, beginning the subscription service's run.

2008 – The Dial-A-Song number is disconnected and no longer owned by They Might Be Giants, for the first time since 1983.

2022 – BOOK is nominated for the 2023 Grammy for "Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package."

1989 – Birdhouse In Your Soul , Lucky Ball And Chain , Particle Man, Someone Keeps Moving My Chair , and Whistling In The Dark is first played at a concert in 1989, predating Flood

18

2003 – Gigantic (A Tale Of Two Johns) is released on DVD.

2011 – While leaving Southern California, the band's trailer caught fire and they "lost a bunch of important stuff". However, The Avatars Of They survived because they were "traveling deep in the pack in their luxury suitcase". The band acknowledged it was "an extremely stressful time", but in the end, "TMBG can't stop, won't stop."

19

1949 – James Ensor dies. James Ensor is considered to be an innovator in 19th-century art. Although he stood apart from other artists of his time, he significantly influenced 20th-century expressionist and surrealist painters. If you want to dig him up and shake his hand, you'll have to go to the churchyard of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ter Duinenkerk (Our Lady of the Dunes Church) in Dorpstraat, Belgium.

20

1992 – At the soundcheck for a show at Fairfax High in Los Angeles, They Might Be Giants record the song "O Tannenbaum" which is later released as a 7" single.

21

1987 – They Might Be Giants' self-titled album is released in Japan for the first time.

26

1996 – S-E-X-X-Y, the only single from Factory Showroom, is released.

27

2014 – The radio show Shuffle Function devotes an entire day of air time on KMSU in Mankato, MN to playing TMBG as an homage to the day James Ensor died. It is called They Might Be Playing They Might Be Giants. This feat is repeated annually and is now also known as TMBG.love.

2015 – Why?, They Might Be Giants' fifth album for children, is released.

28

2014 – The band participates in Record Store Black Friday, re-releasing Flood on green and yellow-colored vinyl.